


If Only Things Were Different

by Takara_Phoenix



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universes, Dark, Hurt/Comfort, Kaito is a Magician, M/M, Magic Jewel, Repeated Character Death and Resurrection, Shinichi is an Actor, Shounen-ai, Slash, They Die and Get a New Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-06 01:35:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1839541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takara_Phoenix/pseuds/Takara_Phoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shinichi dies during a KID-heist. Kaito finds a magic jewel, not the one he's looking for, but the one that can save Shinichi. Just not the way Kaito had wished for.<br/>Their lives start over again, but something small changes. Then one of them dies and life starts all over once more. Until one life, where Shinichi is a famous actor, Kaito is a magician and Ran is the one who got herself shrunk. Now Kaito and Shinichi have to deal with the dreams of their original lives bleeding through. Will they find each other again?</p>
            </blockquote>





	If Only Things Were Different

Title: If Only Things Were Different – Granting A Second Chance

Fandom: Magic Kaitou; Detective Conan

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama for he created the awesomeness that is Kaitou KID. Ah, and Detective Conan, too. The story in itself though is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: shounen-ai, AU, repeat-fic, character death, dark, h/c

Main Pairing: KaiShin

Side Pairings: Saguru/Aoko, Heiji/Kazuha, Toichi/Chikage, Yuusaku/Yukiko

Detective Conan Characters: Kudou Shinichi, Kudou Yukiko, Kudou Yuusaku, Suzuki Sonoko, Sera Masumi, Tooyama Kazuha, Hattori Heiji, Mouri Ran / Agasa Alice, Haibara Ai

Magic Kaitou Characters: Kuroba Kaito, Kuroba Toichi, Kuroba Chikage, Koizumi Akako, Hakuba Saguru, Nakamouri Aoko, Momoi Keiko, Snake

Own Characters: Janos, Taisho Daisuke

Summary: Everything is different in this world. Instead of becoming a well-known detective, Shinichi followed his mother's step and became an actor, moving with his parents to America. Kuroba Toichi never died, thus Kaito never had to take over as KID. But how come then that they have dreams about each other and their lives as Conan and KID?

 

**If Only Things Were Different**

_ Granting A Second Chance _

 

~*~

 

_He stood alone in a bedroom, but he could hear a female voice nearing him from the halls._

“ _...You can't figure him out? His name, Doito Katuki... Try to rearrange the letters in his name...”_

“ _K.. KID the Phantom Thief!”, came the astonished call from the people outside the house._

_Kaito turned around, a confident smirk on his lips._

“ _That's really a superb investigation”, complimented the white-clad thief._

_The seven-years-old boy that had entered the room stared at him. Cerulean blue eyes locked with indigo-violet ones. The Moonlight Magician in front of him stood tall and proud on the balcony, looking down at his opponent. The shrunken detective had his hands casually put into his pockets, a calm and relaxed air surrounding him. Both breathed the cold evening air deeply, enjoying the moment. This single moment when they were alone at the end of each encounter, when the detective was able to shed his masks and even Kaito would let his guard down the slightest bit, allowing a sincere smile to grace his lips._

“ _Where's Ran?”_

“ _Sleeping quietly in the room next door. I can't really stand that kind of lovely girl.”_

“ _You really like to dash in and out and trick people like your nickname Red Herring”, accused the young boy, smirking as self-conscious as the thief himself._

“ _I didn't intent to trick anyone”, declined the Moonlight Magician. “I came here because I wanted to know how come Little Cheater still send messages when he already was dead. I know that Little Cheater was the nickname that Furui Fuden went by when he just started. As soon as I saw that woman I knew right away that she was his niece. That magic trick was also easy to get, but I was already too late when the murder happened.”_

“ _Emotions often prevent us from finding the truth”, muttered the boy. “Still, no one wants this kind of tragedy to happen.”_

“ _That can't be helped. I'm not a detective and you're sick”, a slight hint of worry for his little critic stole itself into his voice. “See you later, tantei-kun... Before the bell of the century rings...”_

_And he vanished in a poof of pink smoke, leaving the detective alone in the bedroom._

 

~*~

 

“Kaito! Wake up!”, called his mother from downstairs.

The teenage magician woke with a start and stared around in confusion. His room. His bed. No rooftop. He shook his head frantically, looking a bit disorientated and displaced when the door opened and someone entered his bedroom.

“Kaito? Didn't you hear your mother?”

“Ah, I did, tou-san”, murmured Kaito and shook his head again.

“Did you have these strange dreams again?”, asked Toichi in worry.

The magician sat down on the bed next to his son, looking him up and down. The younger Kuroba managed a smile and a small nod.

“I don't know, it's so strange... I never dream the same thing, but it's always the same basically. I'm Kaitou KID and I just pulled a really awesome heist and in the end, there's this boy, I call him tantei-kun, and we have a battle of wits. And even though he's a detective, I'm not afraid of him arresting me... Though that's probably because it's a dream”, answered Kaito.

“You say it yourself; it's only a dream. You're not Kaitou KID, nor will you ever be. And there is no such thing as an elementary school detective. The youngest I know about is the famous teenage detective Hattori Heiji. So don't worry about it”, smiled the older male and ruffled his son's hair.

“You're right, tou-san. It's just... It feels really amazing to be KID!”, confessed Kaito.

“Nothing you have to worry about, you'll never be KID”, laughed Toichi. “And I sincerely hope it doesn't feel as really amazing as being on stage with me, because then I have to look for someone else to star beside me in the show next week.”

“What? No, that's not fair! Nothing is as really amazingly awesome as being on stage with you!”, protested the teenage magician wide-eyed.

“Okay then, get ready for school. Hakuba-kun and Nakamouri-chan will soon be there to fetch you. And your mother is already waiting with breakfast.”

“Will do, tou-san!”

Toichi smiled slightly and left his son's bedroom. He went back to the kitchen, where his wife was waiting for him, her face scrunched in worry and discomfort.

“Did he have this dream again?”, asked Chikage lowly.

“Yeah. It's strange, one would think he knows about my night-time job”, mused her husband.

“Maybe... it's time to tell him. He's a clever boy, one day he'll discover it on his own and then it'll be too late”, whispered the brunette woman slowly.

“No. You know Kaito, he would want to help us. Do you really want to risk our son's life like that?”

“No, of course not... It's just so hard, having such a big secret, especially since he started dreaming about himself being KID... It was alright when he was only a big fan of your alter ego, but this... This takes it way too far”, murmured Chikage deep in thoughts.

“I'm ready!”, announced their son cheerfully.

“Well, right in time. Grab your bento and head out”, ushered Toichi with a smile.

“Why?”, asked Kaito confused, just to hear the doorbell ring in exact that moment.

He groaned in annoyance and took his bento, kissing his parents good bye. Why did that half-Brit have to be such a freak when it came to time? Couldn't he be late, just for once? Then maybe Kaito could be able to eat breakfast for a change. He opened the door widely and grinned at his two best friends, who stood expectantly in front of it.

“Good morning, Aoko! Looking beautiful as ever”, greeted the magician his oldest friend, just to fluster her. “And that thing hanging from your arm looks as annoyed as ever.”

“Oh, just shut up, Kaito, and get moving! I don't want to be late”, grunted Saguru and rolled his eyes at the messy-haired boy's antics.

“I swear, one day I'll manage to get you late”, promised Kaito with a wink.

“I highly doubt that”, laughed Aoko softly. “Tell me about your dream!”

The magician regarded her with a grin. His two best friends knew about his strange dreams and the trio made a habit of story-telling on their way to school.

“I've created the persona of a magician to attend a magician's gathering. Suzuki-chan was there, too, with this friend-girl I invented...”

“That Mouri Ran?”, asked Aoko curiously.

She loved that character. This Ran was a real damsel in distress, complete with a sad love story. It was like one of those television soaps Aoko loved to watch with her mother.

“Yeah. They were together with tantei-kun, but tantei-kun was sick, so he took some time to solve the case”, continued the magician.

“What kind of case was it? This time no regular heist?”, asked Saguru surprised.

“No. It was a murder case. A magician had died and I had noticed in a chat-room that his nickname was still being used, that was the reason I attended this gathering. Turned out the magician's niece blamed the people on the chat-room for it and wanted revenge. But tantei-kun was still able to figure it out rather fast.”

“You didn't say that Mouri-san was with them. Who did he use to impersonate?”, questioned Aoko.

“You'd like that one; Suzuki-chan”, grinned Kaito.

“Really?”, laughed the messy-haired girl. “Now your dreams are really getting ridiculous! I mean, that the police would let a seven-years-old roam around crime scenes, or would beat tou-san at coming near catching KID and everyone believing that Mouri-san solves his cases during sleep! And now even Suzuki-chan? Who should believe that?”

“I know, it's totally unrealistic, but the dreams are still fun! You should see how tantei-kun acts all like a lovely little child to get what he wants and turns all evil genius on the bad guys!”

“You forgot one ridiculous fact; Kaito being KID”, added Saguru teasingly.

“Oi! I would be awesome as Phantom Thief!”, protested Kaito pouting.

“Wait! You didn't tell the end!”, redirected Aoko their conversation again. “How was it this time? Did you distract Edogawa-kun again, or did he let you go just like that?”

“We chatted a bit and then I got away, using a smoke bomb”, answered the magician.

“Talking about the ridiculousness of the dreams; a detective that would rather chitchat with a criminal instead of arresting him”, grunted the blonde with one raised eyebrow.

“I still wonder why you dream about this strange boy-detective and why in the world he's always with Mouri-chan. And why those two fictive characters accompany Suzuki Sonoko – of all people. Why the daughter of this wealthy, important family?”, questioned Aoko confused.

“I would rather want to know why I'm such a stuck-up detective”, muttered Saguru.

“Oh, but you are a stuck-up detective!”, grinned Kaito.

“But I'm not obsessing over this unimportant thief”, objected the half-Brit.

“Maybe if Kaito really would be KID, then you would try everything to catch him... Maybe if the two of you would stand on different sides of the law, you wouldn't be such good friends. Who knows”, mused the messy-haired girl.

“Right. As if there's a way for us to not be best friends!”, disagreed both boys unison, before staring at each other in surprise.

“Aw, that was cute”, giggled Aoko.

“I'd rather call it creepy”, said Saguru and raised an eyebrow.

“We should get moving, or else we're going to be late!”, interrupted Kaito.

That got him the attention of his two friends and the trio broke into a sprint. Even though the magician laughed on the outside, he had his eyebrows knitted on the inside. The strange constellation of people in his dreams was something he had been wondering about, too. Why would he dream about his father being dead? And being KID, just to top it all of! So he would take over as Moonlight Magician after a strange, dark organization had killed his father? That was probably the worst nightmare Kaito could imagine! And why should he and Saguru be such rivals? Don't get him started on that gem that's supposed to grand immortality. And then there was tantei-kun. At first he had been really disturbed that he seemingly desired an elementary schoolboy. But then his dreams enlightened him that the boy was a famous detective by the name of Kudou Shinichi, who got somehow shrunken. Kaito was hoping every evening that the next dream would explain how in the world that had happened. The strangest thing was that he knew Kudou Shinichi. Everybody did. He was after all the most popular child star in Japan, especially since he was living and working in Hollywood for five years now. Did those dreams perhaps imply that he had a crush on the actor? Many people had crushes on actors! But they normally didn't dream that said actor would be a detective and a shrunken one at that. The shrunken part was what disturbed him the most (in combinations with the feelings facing tantei-kun always evoke in him). It was also the only part he never told anyone. Both, the shrinking and the crush.

“Oi? BaKaito! Wake up!”, called the majorly annoyed voice of his oldest friend.

Kaito blinked confused and looked around. They were in their classroom and the lesson... had already ended? He shouldn't spend so much time daydreaming. Wasn't it enough that he spend every night dreaming about this foreign reality?!

“Forget him, Nakamouri-chan”, advised the red-haired girl next to Aoko. “He's in his own world once again.”

“Koizumi-chan, don't pick on him”, grinned Saguru.

“What were you talking about?”, interrupted the magician irritated.

“You really didn't listen!”, exclaimed Aoko angrily.

“We were talking about the movie premiere tonight!”, answered Keiko.

The be-glassed girl laid a star magazine in front of Kaito and pointed at an article. Kaito's eyes widened as he stared at the photo. The most gorgeous boy he had ever seen in his life stood on the red carpet, both his parents next to him, the capital read 'Famous Teen Actor Kudou Shinichi Premiers With His First Self-Written Movie'. The magician gripped the magazine and scanned the article for anything of interest. It was about how the actor first took into writing, with the help of his father, the author Kudou Yuusaku. Since the movie took place in Tokyo, the famous family would attend the Japanese gala premiere of the movie this evening.

“And why are we talking about this?”, asked Kaito, masking his giddiness with faked boredom.

“You didn't listen to a single world!”, groaned the messy-haired girl annoyed.

Her be-glassed friend smiled softly. “Aoko-chan's father is responsible for the security so he got us all cards! So you and Hakuba-kun need to get yourself a set of suits and we need dresses!”

“What? Tonight? How should we manage that?”, grunted the magician surprised.

“Well, we are going shopping after school and you will tag along!”, declared Aoko.

“Oh great”, groaned Kaito in half-annoyance.

It was mostly annoying to go shopping with the three girls, but it was also kind of fun.

“This is going to be the best night of our lives! A movie premiere, together with the big stars!”

“And Kudou Shinichi will be there!”, sighed Keiko dreamily.

“Don't tell me you have a crush on him”, giggled Aoko.

“Well, he is quite handsome”, confessed the be-glassed girl with a blush.

Kaito threw her a dirty look, before he shook it off. Why did he feel jealous? It wasn't like he knew Shinichi, just because he had weird dreams about an alternate version of the actor!

“I would be more interested in meeting his father”, murmured Saguru.

“Mystery freak”, commented Kaito with a cheeky grin.

 

~*~

 

The time passed fast and the five friends met at the mall.

“So, what first?”, asked Akako and looked around in disinterest.

“We should split up. Once we got our suits, we'll come to you girls”, suggested Saguru.

“Sounds like a plan! Bye, girls!”, agreed Kaito, grabbing the blonde and leaving.

The two boys ran to the next tuxedo store, without giving the girls any chance to protest. They both wanted to shorten the time spend in a store with the other three as much as possible. Mostly because, on contrary to the fairer gender, they knew exactly what they wanted. Hakuba got himself a midnight-blue suit and a white dress-shirt, while Kaito stuck to an all-white suit with a blue dress-shirt. The two boys soon left again, heading back to the store where they had left their girls.

“So, Saguru”, started the messy-haired teen slowly. “This your first date with Aoko then?”

“I don't know what you're talking about, Kaito”, hissed the blonde with a vibrant blush.

“Oh come on, you two are dancing around each other for ages now”, groaned Kaito.

“And?”, grunted the half-Brit annoyed.

“You are going to Aoko, right now, and you will ask her when you should pick her up. Because a boy does that with his date”, answered the magician irritated.

“Why should I?”

“Because you're madly in love with her”, chimed Kaito, batting his eyelashes.

“What are you talking about?”, asked the messy-haired girl in question curiously.

“Nothing, Nakamouri-chan”, assured Hakuba, coughing awkwardly.

“So, did you guys find something yet?”, asked the magician.

Akako sat on a couch, a red satin-dress over her lap, while Keiko ran around the store with several dresses hanging off her arms. Aoko stood, dressed in the most ridiculous pink dress Kaito had ever seen, in front of her friends. Most likely the reason why the be-glassed girl was running around so frantically. Indigo-violet eyes wandered around the room, until they fell on a certain blonde girl that emerged from one of the cabins and walked up to the mirrors next to Akako.

“Masumi? Kazuha? What do you think?”, asked the blonde curiously.

Kaito and Saguru sat down on the couch and the magician tuned his friends out in benefit of eavesdropping. Suzuki Sonoko whirled around in front of the full-length mirror. Two brunette girls walked up to her and the magician recognized them with a start. One was a girl he had both seen in the news and in his dreams, she was always at the side of the teenage detective Hattori Heiji. And the other had frequently been part of his dreams, too. Tantei-chan, Sera Masumi.

“You look great, Sonoko”, grinned the female detective.

“You're happy, aren't you? Aw, I can't wait to meet this Kudou-kun!”, hummed Kazuha.

“I haven't seen him in ages! He drops by from time to time, but with his job he doesn't have that much time. You know, we used to be good friends when we were small...”, mused Sonoko.

“And we will really meet him in person?”, gaped the Osakan girl.

“Of course we will. I really need you to meet him! I mean, he's a bit stuck-up and arrogant, but if you get to know him better, he's a real nice guy”, answered the blonde.

“Say, is Hattori-kun going to come, too?”, asked Sera curiously.

“I guess... If no one is going to get killed on his way, he will come”, nodded Kazuha.

”He really has the worst of luck”, chuckled the wealthy girl. “ But he won't bring the kindergarten with him, will he? I mean, sure, the kids are rather cute, the way they follow him around like little ducklings, but this is going to be an evening for adults.”

“The professor said he will keep them in line, even though Agasa-chan had whined badly. It was rather cute”, grinned the Osakan.

Kaito blinked a bit. Why was the Suzuki heir friends with the female detective and Tooyama? In reality, he meant. He had never seen the three of them together, where did his subconsciousness pick that up if he didn't know about it? He grew antsy for the evening, because maybe, just maybe, he could sneak in and ask the actor some questions. Even though he would most likely end up getting kicked out or even arrested for harassment. But he needed to know for sure. If he lost his sanity, or... No, he didn't have any possible solution for an 'or'.

“Kaito, oi, BaKaito!”

“What is it...”, started Kaito, but his words died on his tongue.

Aoko looked stunning. Her sky-blue dress was cut form-fitting, glass pearls reflected the light in all colors of the rainbow, it looked amazing on her and complimented her eyes.

“You... You look beautiful”, breathed the blonde half-Brit.

Red covered both their cheeks and they stared at each other. A grin tugged on Kaito's lips and he grabbed both Akako and Keiko and led them away to pay their dresses so Saguru had enough time to invite the messy-haired girl to their first official date.

 

~*~

 

Hours later, they met up again together in front of the cinema. Keiko hung off of Akako's arm, craning her neck to see if Kudou already had arrived. Aoko stood, unusually nervous, next to Saguru, who had one arm wrapped around her waist, even though he didn't look all too confident himself. Kaito send him a smug smile before turning back to his observations. Indigo-violet eyes were fixed onto the heir of the Suzuki-family and her three friends. Tooyama Kazuha held hands with the well-known teenage detective Hattori Heiji, even though the boy looked a bit ruffled, presumably because he had stumbled over a murder case again. And then it happened. Flashlights went off all around them, reporter started throwing questions off, all at the same time. Three people emerged from a long, white stretch-limo.

The writer Kudou Yuusaku, his wife Yukiko and their son – the star of the evening. Kudou Shinichi.

“Kudou-kun! What made you write the script? You always only took to acting!” - “Do you plan on going into writing, or is acting still your true passion?” - “Kudou-san, are you proud that your son took into writing, following your footsteps?”

Instead of answering every single question that was thrown at him, the brunette teen only smiled for the camera. The family posed for some time, before another teen walked over to them and laid an arm around Shinichi's waist, leading the Kudous inside.

Kaito fidgeted with his red tie, his eyes staring at the other boy's retreating behind. The magician gulped at that. Yeah, the actor was very handsome, but he didn't even know him! So why did he feel jealousy bubbling inside his chest again?

“What is this movie about, anyway?”, asked the messy-haired boy once they made their way inside. “And who was this guy that was with Kudou-kun?”

“You don't know?”, blurted Aoko astonished. “Everybody knows! That was Taisho Daisuke.”

“It's about a teenage detective, who chases a dark, dangerous organization, until his path crosses with that of a thief, the Midnight Magician, portrait by Taisho Daisuke. It's assumed that the character of the Midnight Magician is based on Kaitou KID, because he is a thief that uses magic to fool the police. Kudou Yukiko plays the part of Nakada-keibu, the one in charge of chasing the Midnight Magician. The detective, Leblanc Arthur, played by Kudou-kun, is not really interested in chasing thieves, but this one pulls him in. And – now comes the best part – the detective falls in love with the thief, but it's a romance that can't be. That's the summary on Wikipedia, at least. I'm really giddy about the ending!”, explained Keiko with wide gestures.

A teenage detective, not interested in thieves, but falling for the 'Midnight Magician'? That hit home – his dream home, at least – a bit too close... Could it really be? Could he really be his tantei-kun? The cute, easily flustered detective of his dreams? But... How should that be possible?

The five friends finally found their seats and sat down, four of them intensely staring at the screen, awaiting for the film to start, only a pair of indigo-violet eyes searched the semi-darkness for this unique boy. And there it was! The strange haircut, with the cute little stump he remembered his tantei-kun having, too. Keeping one eye on the star, he watched the movie in great interest. It was very interesting, the thief was around their age, a handsome brunette with remarkable messy hair. He had a startling resemblance to Kaito. And Shinichi was just simply awesome! But it was disturbing how some dialogues seemed to be taken right out of his dreams.

This scene, paying right now, was spectacular. He saw how Aoko and Keiko were holding their breath at it. The detective and the thief were facing each other off on top of the roof, but the camera showed the perspective of a sharp-shooter, aiming at the thief's heart. As the shot rung through the cinema, the messy-haired girl jumped and grabbed Saguru's hand tightly, causing the detective to blush once more. But Leblanc Arthur jumped at the thief and pushed him out of the way. Something flashed in front of Kaito's eyes, an image of a seven-years-old boy, pushing him away so that the bullet wouldn't kill him. The magician grabbed his head and blinked.

“Kaito? Everything alright?”, whispered Aoko worried.

“Yeah. Just... a headache... I'll go to the bathroom, maybe it'll go away. Be right back.”

He left in a haste, only noting out of the edge of his vision that Kudou had obviously left, too. Knitting his eyebrows in confusion, he sneaked out and strolled down the halls to the restroom. Surprise hit him when he entered the bathroom. There, in front of the mirror, gripping the facilities hard, his head hung and his eyes hid behind his bangs, stood no other but Kudou Shinichi.

“You alright?”, asked Kaito slowly.

The actor whirled around, beautiful cerulean eyes widening in shock.

“KID!”, exclaimed Shinichi surprised.

Tilting his head in confusion, the magician stared past the actor into the mirror and his own eyes widened. He wore a white suit, a blue dress-shirt and a red tie. He did look like KID, only missing the cape, the top-head and the monocle.

“Ah, you're mistaken there, I'm Kuroba Kaito”, introduced the magician himself with a smile.

Kudou shook his head, offering a small, sad smile of his own.

“Of course, I'm sorry. I guess I'm a bit confused... Jetleg and all... I'm Kudou Shinichi, it's a pleasure meeting you.”

They shook hands and Kaito could have sworn there was a jolt going through his body at the sheer contact of skin. A shudder ragged his body and he stared deeply into the sapphire eyes.

“Why are you not inside? It's your night, after all, Kudou-kun”, asked the messy-haired boy.

“I'm not feeling good and besides, I know the movie. I wrote it and I played the main character. The question is; What are you doing outside? Does it bore you?”

The actor seemed to relax a bit and leaned against the counter behind him, staring at Kaito with a cheeky grin. It reminded the magician of his dreams and the encounters between tantei-kun and his KID persona. A sincere smile graced his lips at the familiar air between them.

“No, it's actually pretty good. But a head-ache hit me, I guess it's the air in such crowded, enclosed spaces. That always has this effect on me”, shrugged Kaito.

“Kudou-kun? Are ya in there?”, a dark-skinned boy entered the restroom. “The girls send me to look after you, Suzuki-chan is worried, because ya left quite some time ago.”

“Sonoko did, eh? I'm sorry she troubled you, Hattori-kun. I'm coming. It was nice meeting you, Kuroba-kun”, nodded the actor and waved him off.

“Bye, tantei-kun”, whispered Kaito barely audible.

For a split second it looked like Shinichi froze, but he shook it off and left the toilet-room. Kaito stared after him and cursed Hattori in every language he could, because this had been his chance to talk to the famous teen. When would be the next time he would see him again, without a lot of photographers and bodyguards and other people following the star?

He sighed and left again to get back to his seat.

“What did I miss, Aoko?”, whispered the magician.

“You missed the most important part!”, hissed the messy-haired girl. “Leblanc-kun and the Midnight Magician both thought that the shooter was after them and now it's revealed that the thief himself is being chased by the same organization as Leblanc-kun! The two agreed on working together and now Leblanc-kun got his hopes up that maybe he has a chance with the thief!”

She had a distant, dreamy look in her eyes and Kaito had to suppress a laugh at that. She was totally into the story and the magician had to agree that it was a rather daring movie. Gayness wasn't portrait all that often, aside from that scandalizing movie about those two cowboys.

 

~*~

 

_He was standing there, his baseball-cap drawn deep into his face, indigo-violet eyes fixed on the small form of tantei-kun in front of him. And then he pulled a gun – his card gun – and pressed it against the boy's head. He saw the detective stiffen._

“ _Yo, meitantei”, grinned the thief._

_The boy relaxed a bit and they fell into their usual banter, until the Mouri girl interrupted them and Kaito had to leave. Damn, he had especially sought the chibi-tantei out to have a little chat before he would repeat his teleportation trick, but the girl had to ruin the moment!_

 

~*~

 

Kaito grunted annoyed and hugged his cushion close. He had hoped the dreams had stopped, because after watching the movie he hadn't had a single dream. It astonished not only him, but also his parents and friends. And now – the day of his next big show with his father – he had to have one again. Damn it. He needed to concentrate, this one was going to be big and awesome, after all.

He walked downstairs and greeted his mother, who was busy making breakfast.

“Are you nervous about tonight? You look like you didn't sleep all that good”, remarked Chikage.

“Yeah. A bit nervous”, lied Kaito, not wanting to worry his mother.

She had been so relieved after the dreams had stopped, he didn't want to tell her that they returned.

“No need to be! I know that you and your father both are going to be brilliant – just as always! And say, are Hakuba-kun and Nakamouri-chan really going together? As in, as a couple?”

“Oh, yeah! They finally managed! After the movie, they went out like every single day and now they are always holding hands and kissing! It's really gross!”, giggled Kaito.

“Young love”, sighed Chikage dreamily.

“Say, how did you and tou-san meet?”, asked the magician curiously.

“Well...”, drawled his mother slowly. “You see, he came and... visited me during work. I still worked back then and he was really charming and asked me out, because he thought such a jewel shouldn't work so hard, but rather rest at his side.”

She giggled a bit at the memory and stared off into nothingness. Kaito smiled slightly and left her to her memories, he still had to practice some more for the evening.

 

~*~

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you to the most magical evening of your lives!”, announced Kaito loudly.

No, there was no feeling comparable to standing on the stage, as the sole center of attention of all the people who came only to watch him. Him and his father. Being up there, together with Toichi, seeing the pride in his father's eyes, was the most amazing feeling he knew.

He saw his mother and his friends in the first row, watching idly and staring at them in awe.

The performance ended all too soon and he found himself in a group hug by his friends. They congratulated him on his awesome performance and flattered him some more.

“Hush now, children, he needs to get changed! Kaito, we'll meet you and your father in the restaurant, okay?”, interrupted his mother.

Kaito smiled at her and left for his changing room. But when he finally slid inside, he saw that someone was indeed already sitting at his vanity.

“Kudou-kun!”, exclaimed the magician overwhelmed.

“That's not what you called me at our last parting...”, whispered the actor and turned around to face the other teen fully. “Your performance was very impressing, Kuroba-kun.”

“Thanks”, grinned the messy-head. “You were very impressing, too. In your movie, I mean.”

The smirk softened to a smile, that once again looked way too sad for Kaito's liking. The magician started to remove his robe casually, acting like the other wasn't there.

“Is there something you want or is this a mere coincident?”, asked Kaito.

“To be honest, I couldn't stop thinking of you”, confessed the actor with a blush.

“Why, Kudou-kun, are you hitting on me?”, winked the magician with a grin.

“No!”, shrieked Shinichi hastily. “I meant, I... What you said... You called me tantei-kun. Why did you do that?”

“Say, the plot for your movie... How did you get that?”

“What? It's... It's nothing. It's just been a dream I had”, shrugged the actor irritated.

“You didn't stay true to the dream. The detective was supposed to die in the end, finding the cursed gem and getting shot by a sniper”, accused the magician.

“How do you know?”, gasped the actor, his mouth suddenly dry.

“Out of the same reason you came up with that plot. Because I've been dreaming it. Ever since I can remember, I've been dreaming about a different life. A life where my father had died years ago and I became an internationally wanted criminal, on the never-ending search for a cursed gem. Until I met the shrunken detective Edogawa Conan. And we formed an alliance.”

“So I was right... You are KID... Well, not this Kaitou KID, but my Kaitou KID... I mean, the Kaitou KID from my dreams.”

The actor was once again blushing furiously at his own choice of words.

“Yeah. Though, I must say I like your ending better”, grinned the magician.

The blush on the other teen's face deepened significantly at that remark. Kaito had been a bit surprised when Leblanc Arthur and the Midnight Magician got together and defeated the evil organization in the end, though not finding what they had been searching for.

“Well... I didn't like the dieing part”, mumbled Shinichi with a shrug.

“But do you know what that means?”, asked Kaito confused. “I mean, why do we have the same dreams? And about each other! Even though we never met. I have never seen Suzuki-chan or Sera-chan or Tooyama-chan before, but I dreamed about them. What's that supposed to mean?”

“And that blonde at your side, was that really Hakuba-kun?”

“Yeah. And Nakamouri-keibu exists, too, if you're wondering”, answered the magician.

“That's... crazy...”, the actor shook his head. “I always thought those were strange dreams, since I lived in America and hadn't really met most of those people. But when I returned and Sonoko introduced me to Hattori and Tooyama-chan and all the others, it felt like I got stabbed. All the people I thought I made up in my dreams were real. That really freaked me out. I guess my parents think I finally had the breakdown most child-stars have at one point in their life.”

“Say, what I've been wondering... I saw you lot last week, but I didn't see your nee-chan – I mean, Mouri-chan. Does she... not exist?”, wondered the messy-haired teen.

“See, that's part of the reason why I had a breakdown”, started Shinichi.

Kaito knitted his eyebrows and sat down next to the actor, still in a state of being half-dressed. He noted the look the smaller teen threw him and the faint blush covering his cheeks once again.

“Sonoko didn't only introduce me to Hattori, Tooyama-chan and Sera-chan, but also to the Shounen Tantei-dan. Agasa-hakase's niece Agasa Alice and her friends. Alice-chan looks exactly like Ran when she was younger. I confronted her and she confessed that she had been there, in Tropical Land, together with Sonoko instead of with me. And she got curious when she saw those dark figures and they poisoned her. She didn't know what to do, so she ran to the professor. You see, in reality, in this reality, she took after her father and dreams of becoming a police woman one day. Her father is still with the police, by the way, and by far not such a big looser as he was as a detective. She had seeked help by Hattori and so Sonoko and Tooyama-chan had met.”

“So... Basically, what exactly? In our dreams, my dad had died and you became a detective instead of an actor, so now your best friend got thrown into the whole black org fiasco...”

“You know what that means, right?”, whispered Shinichi, throwing a worried glance at Kaito.

“Yeah... That would mean my parents had lied to me my whole life... But that can't be... My father can't be an internationally wanted criminal!”, declined the magician.

“But... Doesn't that sound more logical than us having shared dreams?”, chuckled Shinichi.

“Oi, don't get cheeky on me, tantei-kun”, warned Kaito.

“Kaito?”, a knocking on the door. “Are you ready? Your mother and the others are waiting for us.”

“Oh! Yeah, tou-san, I'll come, just give me a minute!”, called the magician.

“Good. I'll go and wait at the car.”

“I'm sorry I took so much of your time”, mumbled the actor awkwardly.

“No need to be! I enjoyed our talk! But I need to go now.”

“Sure... Bye”, whispered the not-detective with guarded eyes.

“Yeah, bye! I'll drop by tomorrow morning, it's a Saturday so no school. That alright?”

“Wait, what?”, blinked Shinichi confused.

“Your family got that mansion in Beika, right?”

“Eh... Yeah...?”

“Well, then I'll drop by tomorrow and we can talk some more”, grinned Kaito and waved him.

 

~*~

 

“But are you sure it's alright to leave you alone?”

“Yeah, you haven't been all yourself these past few days.”

“It's alright, really. I told you I want a break after this movie is done. You two can get back home, I think a vacation would be good for me”, assured Shinichi with a small smile.

His parents stood in front of him, their suitcases packed and ready to head to the airport, but both of them were reluctant to leave their son alone, since he had had such a breakdown only a few days ago. Though maybe Shinichi was right and a break would be good for him.

“Okay, but you're going to call as soon as anything happens, alright?”, agreed his mother and hugged him tightly.

“Will do. And Agasa-hakase is going to keep an eye on me anyway so nothing will happen.”

“Be good, Shinichi”, smiled his father.

He nodded at them and waved, until their cab was out of his sight. And then he went back in. He needed to get everything tidied up, before KID would arrive! No, Kuroba, not KID. That was a dream. A life that never had been. The moment he turned around, he bumped into a firm chest. A shriek escaped his lips and he stared up into indigo-violet eyes.

“How did you—Oh, forget the question”, grunted the actor.

“I was just waiting for your parents to leave”, grinned Kaito.

The magician grabbed his hand – like he had done so often in their dream-life – and ran around the house, looking at each and every nook.

“Looks a bit more impersonal than I remember”, muttered the magician displeased.

“Well, I moved out five years ago. No one had lived here for a long time and we just returned last week”, shrugged Shinichi and sat down in the library. “I remember you breaking into my library rather often.”

“Yeah. Because you always were here”, hummed Kaito.

“Oi, oi! Only after I got the apotoxin”, disagreed the actor.

“Right. That reminds me... I still have some gapes, I mean, it doesn't fit completely... Do your dreams come in a total disorder, too?”

“Yeah. The first dream I had was of me getting shot and then they came. About first meeting you at the clock tower and then as Conan when you tried to steal the Black Star... It was confusing at first, because the dream about getting shrunken came after that...”, answered Shinichi. “You said gapes. What kind of gapes?”

“I remember that scene from your movie. When we nearly get shot and meet at your library, after you got your body back, and how we talked about everything. Pandora, the black organization, your shrinking, my father's death. And I know how we... I know the end. But what happened in between those two? Most of my dreams are about when you were still Conan.”

“I don't know completely... But we worked together with the FBI and Hattori and even Sera-chan. After we've finished school, you moved in with me – you said that would be better for our planning of your heists and all. The next dream, chronologically seen as I presume, must be the one where...”

He got interrupted as Kaito hugged him tightly.

“The one where you die”, whispered the magician.

“What... What happened after I died? What happened to you?”, asked the actor reluctantly.

 

~*~

 

“ _You think this is it?”, asked Shinichi curiously, leaning over the thief._

_The Moonlight Magician blushed a bit at their proximity and threw the jewel into the air so the moonlight could hit it. No red glowing, not that Kaito was believing to ever see a gem glow red anyway. He had given up hope years ago. The only real purpose of his heists these days was only to lure the Crows out (and to spend quality time with Shinichi, of course). The piece of jewelry did something entirely unexpected, though. It glowed the brightest of green._

“ _Didn't you say it should glow red?”, blinked the detective._

_The thief next to him only nodded in confusion. That was when it happened. The glowing gem had distracted them, a bullet pierced Shinichi and the detective went down with a gasp._

“ _No!”, screamed the white-clad teen and held the other boy close, pressing his hand against the bleeding wound. “Stay with me, tantei-kun, you hear? We're so close!”_

“ _I—I'm sorry, KID-san”, gasped the detective and coughed._

_Kaito blinked his tears away when he noticed the blood his detective was coughing up. He buried his face into the soft, brown hair, breathing the other's unique, sweet scent in._

“ _You have to... have to promise me something...”, whispered Shinichi._

“ _Don't say things like that, you're not going to die!”, hissed the magician angrily._

“ _Kaito”, breathed the detective intensely, getting Kaito's unshared attention, because he never used the thief's first name, the highest of his feelings was a Kuroba-kun and that only if Kaito whined like there was no tomorrow. “Kaito, promise me you're going to take them down, even without me.”_

“ _I... I promise”, whispered the Moonlight Magician._

“ _K... Kaito?”_

“ _Yeah?”, asked the messy-head, tears streaming down his cheeks._

“ _I... love you...”_

_Indigo-violet eyes widened in shock at the confession and he stared into the bottomless depth of those sapphire blue eyes, until the last spark of life left them. The thief leaned down and brushed his lips over the other's cheek._

“ _So do I... I love you too, Shinichi... And I promise, I'll take them down...”_

 

~*~

 

Both teens shuddered at the memory.

“I don't know, it's the last thing I know, too... Because in every other dream you're still alive...”, Kaito said and looked at the other. “You... remember the last thing you said to me before you died?”

Cerulean blue eyes widened and the actor gulped desperately. “I... Yes... Why...?”

“Because you didn't get to hear my answer”, whispered the magician.

“It's—It's just a dream anyway so I guess it doesn't--”

“So do I.”

“What?”, asked Shinichi confused.

“So do I. I love you too, Shinichi”, repeated the messy-head with a sober expression.

“I—What? You're insane! Those were only dreams! You don't even know me! How can you say something as serious as that!”, hissed the actor angered.

“I know what I know and I know which parts are true. I know that you never do anything without at least two cups of coffee – black, without sugar or milk; your cup is still standing on the kitchen counter. You can't cook – neither can your parents, if the empty boxes of take-out are any indication. You love reading Holmes books, your favorite being the Sign of Four; it's laying on the little table next to the arm-chair. Your friends are extremely important to you – still are in this world, because you held contact to Sonoko, even though you moved away five years ago. You can't let a mystery rest, even now, even though you're not a detective. You couldn't let the dreams go, you sought me out instead. And even though you claim those are only dreams, you're still afraid because you had died and you're full of regret because you don't really know Hattori-kun; I saw it in your eyes. I know that you have the most amazing and captivating eyes and a smile that could melt the coldest heart, a smirk that could scare the baddest bad-ass if you figured something out and a laugh that rings like bells. I know that I'm utterly and utmost in love with you, Kudou Shinichi, if you're an actor or a detective or an astronaut, I don't care. Loosing you in my dream was the worst thing I can remember and I don't want to repeat this experience.”

Kaito laid one arm loosely around the other's waist and lifted Shinichi's head with his other hand, until their eyes locked. He lowered his own head until their lips met in a brief kiss.

“I know that I want to know what these dreams mean and I know that I want to investigate it together with you.”

“My, that's cheesy”, giggled a little girl's voice.

The two boys whirled around and faced the brunette girl. Kaito took her appearance in and smirked.

“Mouri-chan! I remember you being taller.”

“Agasa Alice, please. You must be Kuroba Kaito. Shinichi told me all about you. And those strange dreams you're both having.”

“Maybe with the information you two can provide, we can take the Crows down”, mused a thickly accented voice.

Hattori stood in the door, his arms crossed and his cap pulled deep into his face. His whole posture showed that he wasn't trusting them at all. Next to him were the two not-children.

“He knows things he's not supposed to know. Even though I don't have any kind of explanation as to how they gained this knowledge, it could be useful to us”, mused Haibara.

“Say, tantei-han—I mean, Hattori-kun, how come you got involved with all of this?”

“I came here to challenge Hakuba-kun, because I heard he is a pretty decent detective. But he declined, because he didn't see a purpose in it and because he wasn't into murderers. Then I met Alice-chan by chance. She asked me for help, because I'm the best detective Japan has to offer”, explained the Osakan. “Haibara-chan came later to us.”

“We hadn't made any kind of progress in the passed time, though”, sighed Ran and sat down.

“Well, then it's time to lay down all our cards. Together we can manage. Shinichi and I did it the first time, too. And we were alone. But now we even know their future plans”, grinned Kaito.

The five of them sat down with paper and pen and wrote. Every little clue and lead they had, laying down every folder the trio already had collected, while Kaito and Shinichi marked it with things they knew from their dreams. Hours flew by, day changed to night and night became day again.

 

~*~

 

“Kuroba Kaito! Where in the world have you been?!”, screamed Chikage.

She had bangs under her eyes and looked uneasy. So did his father.

“I'm sorry, I forgot to call...”, mumbled Kaito guiltily.

“You forgot?! Do you know how worried we were?! Where have you been?”, growled his mother.

“Well, if you really want to know: I've been with tantei-kun and his friends and we talked about how to defeat the Crows. Happy now, Phantom Lady?”

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at her accusingly. Chikage flinched and looked surprised from her son to her husband.

“What are you talking about, Kaito?”, asked Toichi.

“My dreams are real! They all do exist! Shinichi has the same dreams as I! That means you two lied to me my whole life! You're... You're internationally wanted criminals, for heaven's sake!”

“Kaito--”, started his father.

“No! You lied! I don't know why this reality is different than my dreams, I don't know why you're still alive here, but in my dreams, you're dead and I took over as Kaitou KID to avenge your death and in the end I even lost tantei-kun to them! Just because of that stupid magical gem!”, screamed the teenage magician angrily. “Why are you risking your lives for something so stupid?!”

“Kaito, look... We're sorry. We just didn't want to endanger you. We always thought you had these dreams because you assumed your father to be KID. How can those dreams be real?”

“I don't know how, but I know that they need help to catch the Crows and even though I'm not an internationally wanted criminal, I'll still help them and if you are really after them, then you should help us, too!”

“Okay”, nodded Toichi.

“I—Okay?”, blinked Kaito dumbfounded.

“If what you say is true and those friends of yours have a connection to them and are in danger, then I won't let a bunch of children get hurt. No one get's hurt, that's – after all – my policy.”

“Awesome, tou-san!”, cheered the teen relieved.

“When can we meet those friends of yours?”, asked his mother.

“Next weekend? Hattori-kun said he will contact their FBI allies first”, answered Kaito.

“That sounds good”, nodded Chikage. “How about you invite them over?”

 

~*~

 

_He was sad, a feeling he came to embrace ever since his beloved detective had passed away. The memory of the funeral burned in his heart. This was it. The big show-down. To lure the last Crows out, Shiho had taken the antidote and attended the heist. The FBI surrounded the building, most little members were already arrested and the agents were running around right now. Kaito himself was doing so, too. There was one member he needed to take down himself. The one that took two important people away from him._

“ _Snake”, hissed the magician angrily._

“ _KID! You're like weed, when will I finally get rid of you?!”, growled the murderer._

“ _KID-san? Can you hear me?”, cracked his radio._

“ _Ojou-san? Yeah?”, asked Kaito into the receiver, pointing a gun – a real one he had brought only for Snake – at the Crow._

“ _We got the head. Everything's cleared. Are you ready to move out?”_

“ _Barely”, grinned the thief and removed the safety of the gun._

“ _Good. And remember, KID-san, Kudou-kun wouldn't want you to turn into a murderer because of him”, were the last words spoken before the line went dead._

_Kaito blinked down at it in awe. How did she know? But the distraction came at the wrong moment. Snake used the chance to his advantage and shot. The piercing pain erupting from his stomach to spread through his whole being was probably the second worst pain ever. Right after loosing his tantei-kun. A shot into the guts. Surviving chances were low, especially considering that no one was near to get help soon. Before he went down, he pulled the trigger himself. If he died there, he wouldn't die alone. Shiho was right, Shinichi wouldn't want him to turn into a murderer. But Shinichi would never know, because he was already dead._

_He thought that death would embrace him in darkness. Instead of darkness, there was only light. Bright, green light. The same light he had seen the night Shinichi had died. A figure neared him._

“ _Shinichi? Is that you?”, asked Kaito hopefully._

“ _Ah, sadly enough no”, chuckled the man._

“ _Who... Are you?”, whispered the thief wearily._

“ _The gem you found. You still remember me?”, grinned the man._

“ _What?”, blinked the Moonlight Magician._

“ _You were searching for Pandora, but you found me instead. I'm Janos.”_

“ _Janos? As in the Greek god Janos?”_

“ _That would be me”, nodded the humanized gem. “The god of decisions.”_

“ _Right. Can you explain that to me? What do you want?”, growled Kaito defensively._

“ _You think that Pandora grants immortality. But that's more metaphorically. Pandora represents hope and since hope is the last to die, humans say it would bring immortality.”_

“ _And what do you bring? Choices? I don't need any more choices! Just let me pass so I can be with Shinichi”, hissed the thief, tired of life and it's strangeness._

“ _Yes, I do bring choices. But not in the way you assume”, smirked Janos._

“ _What's that supposed to mean?!”_

“ _I can change your life. Tell me, if there is one thing you could change, which one would that be?”_

_Kaito remained silent for a few minutes, staring wide-eyed at the man in front of him._

“ _One thing?”, asked the magician slowly._

“ _One thing at a time”, nodded the Greek god._

“ _I wish we would have never gotten involved with the Crows”, breathed Kaito._

 

~*~

 

“It was me! Itwasmeitwasmeitwasmeitwasme...”

Kaito sat up like he got hit by lightning, muttering the same thing over and over again, until it melted together to one slightly insane-sounding chanting. He jumped out of his bed and ran downstairs, past his parents and out of the house.

“Where are you going?”, called his mother after him.

“Need to get to tantei-kun!”, screamed Kaito.

“But wait, shouldn't you... at least get dressed?”, commented his father.

The messy-haired teen blinked in confusion and looked down. Yeah, running around Tokyo clad in pajamas wasn't the sanest thing to do. He snapped his fingers and pink smoke erupted all around him, once the smoke went down, he was dressed in a blue shirt and jeans. Way better. That was the moment he collided with someone. Before he went down, he grabbed the other's waist instinctively.

“K—Kuroba-kun!”, exclaimed the one in his arms.

The magician looked down into cerulean blue eyes and a relieved grin spread over his lips.

“I was just on the way to get you!”

“But why... We said we would come over anyway”, questioned Ran.

She was entirely ignored. All that mattered was the boy in his arms.

“It was me”, declared the magician.

“What was you? The one that just run me over?”, grunted Shinichi irritated.

“No! I know why we're having those dreams! I know what happened! It was me!”

“Please, try forming sentences that make sense”, sighed Haibara with one raised eyebrow.

“I've dreamed about my dead”, answered Kaito.

The five of them fell into the same pace and walked back to the Kuroba mansion.

“Well, what happened to ya?”, asked Hattori curiously.

“We've been taking down the rest of the organization, together with the FBI and I got shot. I died. But instead of death, there was Janos. I mean, the magical gem we found. You remember? It's green glowing shortly before you died? That was him. And he offered me a choice. I choose a life without the Crows. That's the reason. We repeated our lives, with the change that this time we weren't to face the Crows. You not because you didn't become a detective and I not because my father is still alive to act as KID himself”, explained the messy-haired teenager.

“We took the organization down?”, asked Haibara irritated.

“Aya! I know where the headquarter of the black organization is!”, added Kaito.

“What do you mean you know where the headquarter is?”, blinked Ran surprised.

“Then I should call Jodie-san!”, grinned Hattori broadly.

 

~*~

 

The following weeks had them all planning and scheming together. Ran, Haibara, Hattori, Shinichi, Kaito, his parents and the FBI. They left the part about being reborn out, of course, because the agents wouldn't really believe that. And Toichi and Chikage only met the FBI agents in the persona of Kaitou KID and Phantom Lady. Nearly all the members of the black organization got caught and thanks to Shinichi's most recent dream about the antidote, Haibara was able to finally finish it. Mouri Ran came back from her exchange year in America (Shinichi was only mildly astonished that Kogoro had believed that to be true) and Ai decided to stay a child and start a new life.

The Phantom Lady and Kaitou KID were still chasing after Pandora, only now their son knew where they really left to when they headed out to a 'date'.

Though Shinichi and Kaito did one last thing together. They broke into a museum, darkness being their cover and the actor wondered briefly if the not-thief-turned-thief missed being in the spotlight during his heists. But it didn't matter, they needed to get the Janos gem, if they couldn't get their hands on Pandora, they needed to remove at least this magical gem from the reach of any dark figure that may still lure out there.

 

~*~

 

Kaito sneaked into the Kudou mansion and came to a halt behind the broad armchair.

“You know that you could knock, right?”, commented Shinichi without looking up.

“I've read that you will leave again”, whispered the magician monotonously.

The actor froze and laid the book down to look up at the other teen, guilt passing over his face.

“Being a detective, living in Japan, all that was a past life... I need to live in the now. And right now I am one of the most wanted teen actors on this globe. 'Meitantei Arthur' was a hit, they want me as writer, as producer, as star in their next movie. I had spend a month here in Japan and now I need to return back home, before the flow stops. I'm sorry, Kaito, but... This is my big chance to move on from being a teen star to being taken serious by the big numbers in Hollywood.”

“I know. It would just have been nice if you would have told me yourself”, shrugged the magician, his bangs hiding his eyes.

He turned on his heals, clapping his hands together, causing hundreds of red rose petals to rain down on the famous actor.

“I hope you get the fame you want”, muttered Kaito, disappearing in a cloud of pink smoke.

 

~*~

 

“Shin-chan? Oi, Shin-chan, are you listening?”

The teen actor blinked and looked up at his mother, nodding slowly.

“Come, come, I got five more scripts for you to read”, smiled Yukiko.

“Just lay them down, I'll read them later...”, sighed Shinichi.

“Okay. Are you... alright? You have been a bit out of it ever since you came back.”

“Yeah, just... It had been awfully busy since I returned”, smiled her son.

The actress nodded and left his room. Shinichi stood and walked over to the pile of scripts. He took them and laid them next to each other onto the floor.

A new version of Romeo and Juliet, about the fight homosexuals had to put up. Juliet being a drag-queen and Romeo being a jock that was questioning his sexuality. There was no way he would wear drag in his next movie. Not interested.

The sequel to Brokeback Mountain, though as interesting and connected to the first one as Dirty Dancing 2 was to the classic. That would probably be bad for his reputation, because this movie just had to turn into a flop. Not interested.

A detective story, about a teenage detective that was struggling against the police holding him back and fighting for his love, his childhood friend, who was the daughter of a corrupted keibu. Too fluffy and melodramatic. Not interested.

A Green Arrow movie. Shinichi blinked interested. Movies based on comics always brought their own fanbase to begin with and Green Arrow was an interesting character. The actor threw it onto his bed to read it later.

The movie version of the world-known musical Wicked and he was offered the part of Fiyero. Not the main character, for a change, but he knew the book and that wasn't half bad. If this movie would take more after the book instead of the musical, this could turn out to be interesting. On the bed with it.

He froze at the next one. Arsene Lupin. He was supposed to play a thief? Kaito would enjoy that...

Argh! Why couldn't he stop thinking about the not-thief?! He hadn't seen the magician ever since that afternoon in his library where Kaito had showered him in rose petals. And Shinichi still owed him a proper answer... The messy-haired teen had confessed his feelings back then, months ago, but the actor did everything he could to avoid an answer and now he regretted it, because he had feelings for the thief. Because Kaito was still a thief, if not the thief of expensive jewelry, he was the thief of Shinichi's heart and the blue-eyed boy missed him so dearly.

Ever since the black organization got taken care of, the dreams had stopped. Maybe because they had finally found each other, or maybe because they had already dreamed everything that was there to be dreamed of, or maybe because they now knew that those dreams were reality after all.

Shinichi shook his head and went over the next scripts.

The biographic movie of the lives of Siegfried and Roy? He was offered the role of Roy Horn. Why not? His grip on the script tightened and he sat down to read it in peace.

 

~*~

 

The decision wasn't all that hard, he soon signed the contract for 'Tiger's Destiny', the autobiography of Siegfried and Roy, because the movie sounded interesting and could turn out to be great.

“Shinichi? Shinichi, your teacher arrived!”, called Yuusaku from downstairs.

His parents had searched for someone to teach him the basics so he could play a magician properly.

“Send him up, I just need to get dressed!”, answered Shinichi.

He had just exited the shower and was still toweling his hair dry, one towel wrapped around his waist. He stood in the middle of his room when the door opened.

“My, such a nice greeting, Shin-chan!”

“K—Kaito!”, gaped the actor wide-eyed. “What are you doing here?”

“Didn't you listen to your father? Your teacher arrived. You may call me Kaito-sensei now.”

“You are my teacher? But why are you in the US?”, blinked the blue-eyed teen.

“I've finished school a few months ago and left to try my luck in America. Because working with my dad is great, but he's the big magician and I will always be Kuroba Toichi's son. So I gained some distance and thought, why not? Hollywood is the one place where dreams come true.”

“And you ended up as my teacher by chance?”, grunted Shinichi suspiciously.

“No. I heard in the magician's community that the great Kudou Shinichi is searching for a magician to teach him some tricks. I volunteered. You don't really think I just came here because it's such a nice city? I came here because you live here.”

“You really left everything behind just for me...?”, muttered the actor astonished.

“No”, declined the the magician. “I left everything behind just for us.”

The messy-haired teen walked up to him and wrapped his arms around the other's waist. A shudder went down Shinichi's spine when warm breath ghosted over his neck and shoulder.

“You still owe me an answer”, murmured Kaito into his ear.

Slender arms were slung around his neck and his lips were pressed against the soft ones of the actor in his arms. This kiss was anything but soft, it was raw and full of passion, need and want. A promise for more and an apology for wasted time. Shinichi didn't even notice when his towel slipped down his waist, but he did notice the sneaky hand grabbing his ass.

“Shinichi? Did you meet your—Oh. You obviously met him already”, squealed his mother, blushing nearly as deep as the teen actor did the moment she opened the door and faced them. “I'll...eh... leave you to your... practice then... But be safe, you hear!”

“Kaa-san!”, screeched Shinichi flabbergasted.

The door closed behind her and the blue-eyed teen tried to hide his face in the magician's chest, feeling the rumbling of the other's laugh.

“Not funny”, grunted the actor.

“Shinichi, promise me one thing...”

“Yeah? What?”, asked the youngest Kudou curiously.

“Whatever happens, we'll be together forever, right?”, whispered the taller boy.

“Mhmh...”, agreed the actor, closing his eyes to think. “How about... Whatever happens, we'll meet where we met for the very first time. If we get another chance, if we make another different decision, whoever regains his memories first will go to the clock tower, every day at midnight, the same time, until the other one comes, too.”

“Agreed”, grinned the magician.

 

~*~

 

Kaito and Shinichi started dating officially during the filming of the movie. But being a famous actor that plays the role of a gay man or being a gay man were two different things entirely. Homophobia was rooted deep into the hearts of those who hated everything that was foreign to them and unnatural. A group of fanatics bombed the set, killing not only a great deal of the staff, but also the teen magician, who was visiting his boyfriend with a fresh coffee from Starbucks.

The Kurobas and the Kudous put the funerals for their sons together.

Aoko cried into Saguru's chest, the blonde could barely hold his own tears back, Keiko and Akako stood next to them, both with misted eyes. Hattori had his arms wrapped around his fiancee, seeking comfort in Kazuha. Ran held Ai's hand, both girls not daring to look at the headstone, while Masumi tried to offer comfort to Sonoko.

 

~*~

 

The big clock tower's bell rang through the night, disturbing it's peaceful silence, both it's arms reached up into the air as if trying to grab the full moon above it.

Shinichi turned around nervously. For two months now he was sneaking out of the house to be here at midnight and every night he returned disappointed and alone. Not getting much sleep because of his night activity got Sonoko and Ran curious and both girls kept asking him about it. They probably thought he was sick or something, because he was behaving so oddly.

Just when he turned around to leave again, the bell ringing for the twelfth and last time, he heard footsteps, light and fast. A boy running up to him, messy, brown hair being illuminated by the moon, bright indigo-violet eyes shining with mischief and relief.

“Tantei-kun! Shin-chan!”, called the boy out. “You're here, you're really here! You're not a dream!”

The messy-haired boy jumped him and threw them both onto the ground.

“I've been here for two months now! Why do you only remember now?”, complained Shinichi.

“I've remembered before, but you try being a seven-years old sneaking out from under the watchful eyes of the two most observant and paranoid thieves on this planet!”, protested Kaito.

The other child giggled a bit and hugged him close.

“I'm just glad to have you back, Kai-chan...”

“Me too, Shin-chan. And this time no one will take you away from me again.”

 

_~*~ The End ~*~_


End file.
